DWO caught up with Tom Baker (The 4th Doctor) to discuss Big Finish,
Christmas and Tom's plans for 2012.

A brand new range of 4th Doctor
adventures are imminent from Big Finish Productions and fans are beside
themselves with excitement for the series. How was it getting back in
the studio with your former companion, Louise Jameson and how different
is the experience to your BBC AudioGO adventure series?

Well, since I have always personified Doctor Who the 4th, it was very
easy. Louise said, "Tom, it's as if you have never been away". And of
course I never have been away. But we have a wonderful time in the
Wadhurst studios. And it is so wonderful to work with such great actors.
We laugh a lot, you know, and as I enter the deep twilight of my life,
laughter becomes more and more important; I expect to die laughing.

In our podcast interview with you back in
2009, we discussed the possibility of re-discovering your 'Doctor Who
Meets Scratchman' adventure. Do you think the adventure could lend
itself to the audio adventure genre?

The boys at Big Finish think it can be adapted, and I'm willing to have
a go. Of course I can't remember the plot after all this time but we
shall see; or rather, hear.

Christmas is just days away, what will
you be doing on Christmas Day this year and what is your ideal Christmas
Lunch? Turkey or Goose?

Christmas is no longer a novelty for me after 77 turkeys and many
readings of Dickens' Carol. But we are having friends on the eve and
going to other friends nearby over the Christmas period and we have a
dozen new films to watch (as I'm a voting member of BAFTA).We've just been sent through
some of your fantastic new portraits! Lots of fans have already been in
touch asking where they can get hold of them. Are you selling them, and
if so, where can they get them?

I’m glad people like the new portraits. I enjoyed working on them with
the photographer, Oliver McNeil, who has a studio in Hastings. He shot
some of the portraits in his studio and others in the picturesque town
of Rye nearby. There we found an unusual antique shop selling
reconditioned theatre lights – a good setting for me! I can’t comment on
the subject, but I can say the art prints from these pictures are superb
– the colour more subtle and the definition more amazing than with
ordinary prints. That explains their price. They’re expensive, but of
the very highest quality. They can be purchased through Oliver’s
website. If you
Click Here you can sit back and
enjoy the movie Oliver made of the portraits and click on through to the
right shop (depending where you are in the world) to purchase the
prints.

What does 2012 hold for Tom Baker?

Well first I have accepted to play a robot in an animation film. I'm
also booked for a very long day at the DVD launch in Ilford, Barking in
Feb. Those two are for sure. But I am offered things quite often, you
know. I mostly turn them down as they're not my sort of thing or I lose
the offer after I have outlined my ideas of how I would like to do the
part if I accepted it.